Colorado remained fifth in the nation for photovoltaic installations, as the number of megawatts installed jumped 69 percent to 91 megawatts in 2011 compared with 2010, according to a study released today.

It was a “historic” year with solar installations more than doubling to 1,885 megawatts, the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research said in their market review.

The analysis forecasts the U.S. market share, which grew from 5 percent to 7 percent in 2011, to increase steadily reaching nearly 15 percent in 2016.

California, with 542 megawatts of new PV installations and New Jersey with 313 megawatts reamined number 1 and 2 repectively with each state more than doubling installations over 2010.

Arizona, 273 megawatts, and New Mexico, 116 megawatts, were numbers 3 and 4.

There are now 3,954 megawatts of PV capacity operating in the U.S. with more than 214,000 individual systems, according to the market analysis.

The weighted average cost of installed systems, dropped 20 percent over the course of the year as result of lower component prices, improved installation efficiency and a shift toward larger systems, the study said.